There's a lot on the line for the 70-player field in the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship, which is the first of three events in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
For the first time, just 70 players qualify for the initial stage of the playoffs, and all of those players are guaranteed a PGA Tour card and entry into every standard event on the PGA Tour schedule next year, when the new season starts in 2024. However, getting into the playoffs isn't enough.
Qualifying for the second stage of the playoffs at the BMW Championship, played next week outside of Denver, is a huge accomplishment for a player's earning potential next year. The players who finish in the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings after this week in Memphis at TPC Southwind not only get into the second leg of three playoff events but also gets to set a nearly full schedule for next year.
Under the new PGA Tour priority ordering, the top 50 in the FedEx Cup in the prior season are guaranteed access to all eight Signature events (nee designated events) in 2024, including The Sentry, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational, The Players, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Travelers Championship and Wells Fargo Championship. All of those events will feature huge purses and most offer guaranteed money with no cuts or a very small cut.
Of course, qualifying for the final stage of the playoffs at the Tour Championship is the holy grail for a PGA Tour player and their status on Tour. It gets them into all four major championships in 2024 and gives them at least a crack at earning the $25 million first-place prize that comes from winning the FedEx Cup.
That makes surviving the points cutoff in the next two weeks so crucial for any player but particularly players who can rocket their status into a whole other stratosphere next year.
